International web positioning
In today’s globalised world, it is vitally important to address each market in its own language and get the message across in line withits culture and state of being.
Positioning your website in English means not focusing on a specific country, or doing it in a specific English speaking country, such as the United States, the United Kingdom, India, Australia, Canada, South Africa, Ireland, etc. Ideally, the website should be geolocalised, or at least its subdomain. Bear in mind that Americans are not captured in the same manner as New Zealanders.We must also focus on all the English speaking countries if the website is not geolocalised. Furthermore, it should be considered that many people perform their searches in English in spite of not being from an English speaking country. Positioning your website in English without geolocalising towards a country therefore means attempting to reach the whole world, including the world’s biggest market, the USA.Competition is fierce in the most important language in the world, therefore it vitally important to segment accordingly and try to increase visibility as much as possible. Positioning in English allows companies to increase their market share through having access to the largest market in the world.
Positioning you website in French means reaching France, half of Africa, French-speaking Canada, Switzerland and its French-speaking canton, half of Belgium, etc.
The competition in positioning websites in French is not as tough as in Spanish for certain searches, but it is undeniable that its e-commerce sector is exceptionally advanced. Each country has its own customs. A Moroccan or an Algerian do not consume in the same manner as a Parisian, nor are they interested in the same things. Nor does it mean that the French spoken in Canada is the same as that in Belgium. Just as the Spanish spoken in Albacete is not the same as that in Querétaro.
Once again, if we geolocalise towards a country, we focus on that country with its uses and customs. If on the other hand we decide not to geolocalise, we have other kinds of difficulties, but we have a larger market.
In addition to the richness of French-speaking Europe and Canada, special attention must be paid to the Arab world, which shows great potential and could be a very strong market for certain businesses. Africa is divided between English and French, and the market is not inconsiderable.
If on the other hand we are looking to position our website in German, the markets we are aiming at are mainly the German-speaking areasof Switzerland, Austria and Germany. Although it is true that they have a more uniform culture than thecountries that speak Spanish, English or French, each country has its different characteristics. It is recommendable to geolocalise, but in the case of notdoing so, the target will be the whole market in German, with certain difficulties.
The German-speaking countries are currently the European motors, and all European businesses that hope to be leaders throughout the continent will have oneof its main nucleuses in the German market.